Abstract: Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) captures and uses CO2 as a feedstock to produce carbon-based saleable products. However, sustainable technology innovations are only attractive to investors and justify (public) subsidies if they provide economical or ecological added value. Therefore, life cycle analyses (LCA) are applied to identify the environmentally most optimal option of a technology scenario. Since LCA do not address the social dimension of sustainable innovations so far, a study is presented, where acceptance is assessed as additional life cycle evaluation parameter. A prestudy (qualitative interviews, n = 25 participants) was run to identify acceptance-relevant parameters of CCU site deployment. In a conjoint study (n = 110), which investigated the acceptance of CCU site deployment scenarios, the profitability, CO2-source, and type of CO2-derived product were systematically varied as acceptance-relevant criteria. Findings show, that profitability had the highest impact on CCU technology scenario preferences. Fuel was the most attractive CCU product option and steel plants were the most preferred CO2-source. In sensitivity analyses specific acceptable and nonacceptable CCU technology scenarios were identified. The assessment of acceptance for CCU deployment scenario parameters allows to include acceptance as additional evaluation and weighting parameter into life cycle analyses of CCU technology scenarios.(More)

Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) captures and uses CO2 as a feedstock to produce carbon-based saleable products. However, sustainable technology innovations are only attractive to investors and justify (public) subsidies if they provide economical or ecological added value. Therefore, life cycle analyses (LCA) are applied to identify the environmentally most optimal option of a technology scenario. Since LCA do not address the social dimension of sustainable innovations so far, a study is presented, where acceptance is assessed as additional life cycle evaluation parameter. A prestudy (qualitative interviews, n = 25 participants) was run to identify acceptance-relevant parameters of CCU site deployment. In a conjoint study (n = 110), which investigated the acceptance of CCU site deployment scenarios, the profitability, CO2-source, and type of CO2-derived product were systematically varied as acceptance-relevant criteria. Findings show, that profitability had the highest impact on CCU technology scenario preferences. Fuel was the most attractive CCU product option and steel plants were the most preferred CO2-source. In sensitivity analyses specific acceptable and nonacceptable CCU technology scenarios were identified. The assessment of acceptance for CCU deployment scenario parameters allows to include acceptance as additional evaluation and weighting parameter into life cycle analyses of CCU technology scenarios.